Superman rescues mini Zod. It doesn't matter why.
Yesterday's announcement that Zack Snyder would helm the Christopher Nolan-godfathered Superman sent the movie nerds into an asthmatic tailspin. Inhalers were clutched, man-boobs heaved. Since then, details about the film have been popping up all over.
First up, Variety spoke to Snyder, who says it's unlikely Brandon Routh will reprise his dual role of Superman/Clark Kent from Bryan Singer's film. "We're looking in another direction," was the official comment. "Bitch, is you crazy?," was the non-official comment.
Secondly, The Hollywood Reporter is Hollywood reporting that the villian who will be throwing entire buildings at Superman in the new film will be Superman 2's General Zod. Originally played by Terrence Stamp, but hopefully played by Liam Neeson in this version. Has anyone tried to get him on the phone yet? It's not like he says no to movie roles. The man would hand out flyers in a chicken suit if the price was right.

It's not unheard of for a huge flop to kill a director's career. But usually, there's no jail time involved. Unfortunately for director John McTiernan, Rollerball isn't your usual flop.

McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator, The Hunt for Red October) was sentenced to one year in federal prison for lying about his involvement with Anthony Pellicano, a private investigator he hired to illegally wiretap producer Charles Roven. Roven and McTiernan worked together on Rollerball, and apparently when the film went south, so did their relationship.

McTiernan's attorney argued that he should not be sent to prison, in part, because he is on an anti-depressant medication not approved by the federal Bureau of Prisons. The judge sarcastically responded that "(McTiernan) won't be the only depressed man in prison."

Superman rescues mini Snyder. It doesn't matter why.
Zack Snyder is the lucky S.O.B. who has landed the directing gig for the Christopher Nolan-produced Superman: The Man of Steel. The Watchman and Sucker Punch director beat out Tony Scott, Jonathan Liebesman, Duncan Jones, Matt Reeves, Darren Aronofsky, Robert Zemeckis, and Nolan's own brother Jonah, who wrote the script. Daaaaaamn, that's cold, Chris. He's your brother. Your brother!
Family squabbles aside, Warner Bros. is a huge fan of Snyder. He's already directed three films for them, if you count the animated owl movie, and has proven he can handle major tent poles. Will Superman look awesome? Almost definitely. Will there be much emotion underneath the gloss and slow motion? We can only hope that Christopher and Jonah Nolan educate him in the way of story. That is if Jonah can quit giving him the raspberry for stealing his gig. (Deadline)

"MEEOOWWW!!!! KITCH!! KITCH!!"
Last fall, it seemed like the Bourne series was sunk when Paul Greengrass pulled a bitchfit and removed himself and star Matt Damon from a fourth Bourne film. That doesn't seem to bother Universal too much. Despite the fact that he directed Duplicity, they've just hired Tony Gilroy to direct the next chapter. Gilroy, of course, wrote each of the previous films as well as the newest script. Not sure if they plan to use Damon, recast, shoot a prequel, or go the tried-and-true route of using a cardboard cut-out. You really can't tell the difference if you shake the camera around enough. (Deadline)

Every town has a secret. While most are trivial matters, like the true age of the oldest building or the amount of led in the drinking water, some secrets are so shocking that they must be hidden from the outside world at all costs.

In Wes Craven's new film, My Soul to Take, the town of Riverton, MA, has such a secret. It seems a serial killer who died years ago is somehow managing to kill teens from beyond the grave. That's the kind of information that, if made public, could decimate attendance at the annual Blueberry Festival. But when it comes to Hollywood towns, Riverton is not alone. Here are nine of our favorite fictional towns with secrets from the world of cinema.
Derry, Maine – IT (1990)

Will Arnett as a billionaire is hilarious, right? &ldquo;Running Wilde&rdquo; shows each week how Steven Wilde (Arnett) blows his money in competition with fellow billionaire Fa&rsquo;ad (Peter Serafinowicz), and creates a wacky surreal world of servants and caretakers. It was actually going to be a lot darker if Arnett had his original vision.
More after the jump…

Disney started their Blu Ray venture with classic animation titles like Sleeping Beauty, which they restored to amazing color and detail. You could see the original brushstrokes and texture of the cels. Now they&rsquo;re hitting their &lsquo;90s era rebirth with the Oscar nominee Beauty and the Beast.

With The Thing prequel headed to theaters whether you like it or not, it was only a matter of time before we got a look at how they're planning to diminish the memory of the excellent John Carpenter film. These pics show stars Joel Edgerton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Mr. Eko, and Eric Christian Olsen running around the Norwegian camp and killing an off-screen The Thing with fire. Unless they're Things themselves. Now I don't know who to trust. Quick, say something un-Thing like!! (HitFix)
Check out the Anartic-y pics after the jump…

I&rsquo;ve been concerned that some of the Dreamworks movies released on Blu-ray through Paramount have been underdeveloped examples of the format. Sure, the Spielberg movies were filmed with an intentionally grainy style, but that may only work when projected on film. It seems they have HD-worthy titles in their catalog though, as American Beauty shows off the format, and a decade-old film in new clarity and detail. If only the &lsquo;90s viewers could see their suburban despair in this high quality.

As you know, I was not thrilled with the premiere of &ldquo;The Event,&rdquo; but I knew I&rsquo;d have to keep watching it. The second episode definitely picked up the excitement, not for any story complexity or alien revelations, but at least some surprise stabbings and icky arm implants. Tonight, &ldquo;The Event&rdquo; gets more outrageous and more intelligent, making it more fun to watch.
More not spoiler-y details after the jump…

Legend of the Fist
One of my great joys at FantasticFest 2010 was getting to see new Hong Kong movies on the big screen. I usually pick them up on DVD long before their cursory theatrical release in an arthouse, so this was like being in Hong Kong and seeing the latest blockbusters. Hong Kong films are so polished now. They no longer feel like the secret world of films you&rsquo;d have to really love to put up with the dirty, faded copies available. They even do shaky cam just like Hollywood movies.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen is another retelling of the Bruce Lee movie Chinese Connection (original title Fist of Fury). Jet Li did it as Fist of Legend and others have too. In this version, Donnie Yen picks up as Chen after avenging his master in a dojo full of Japanese fighters. He goes from World War I to Shanghai in 1925, still dealing with Japanese/Chinese politics. He takes on the persona of a masked warrior to defend Chinese notables, so he can fight by night and romance by day.
More reviews after the jump…

Mary-Louise Parker is great at vamping up her sex appeal on &ldquo;Weeds&rdquo; in her little boots and sun dresses. If you&rsquo;re an admirer like I am, you&rsquo;ll love this season&rsquo;s eighth episode. When Nancy Botwin (Parker) rolls her Winnebago into town, she hooks up with a local bartender and, because it&rsquo;s Showtime, you see everything and then some. He spanks her pretty little bottom and she hits back!
More after the jump…

JoBlo put together an awesome montage of all of director David Fincher's work, and DAMN is that man talented. I've always greatly admired his ability to utilize his unique visuals while still telling an emotionally rich story. Se7en is one of my favorite movies of all time, and that film completely lacks any fancy camera tricks. Sometimes Fincher goes a tad wild with the CG shots (did we really need to push into the keyhole in Panic Room?), but he always entertains. You leave a Fincher film feeling like you just saw an honest to goodness film. It doesn't even matter how many exhausted actors he forced through 70+ takes to get the shots right.
Treat your eyes to the montage below.

HA HA HA!
Just look at this hilarious picture of Nicolas Cage being held at gunpoint in Joel Schumacher's Trespass. Am I the only one who finds it funny? Maybe it's his sad little expression, or the fact that I had zero context when I first saw it, but to me, Nic Cage plus a shotgun to the face equals comedy gold!

For those of you who care, the photo above comes from Entertainment Weekly, and is the first still released from the film. The plot involves Cage and Nicole Kidmann being taken hostage by four brutal men looking for money. That doesn't sound like much of a comedy, but neither did The Wicker Man remake, and that turned out to be hilarious! (Coming Soon)

By Guest Columnist and Confederate Apologist Archibald McClintock VI
Based on Seth Grahame-Smith's novel of the same name, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has been acquired by Fox. The film will be directed by Timur Bekmambetov, with Tim Burton on board as a producer. Of course these lily-livered Hollywood elitists can not build up the image of a man as loathsome as our 16th chief executive without first tearing down the reputation of Dixie.
"The 'new' history finds Lincoln discovering that Southern plantation owners aren't using slaves for labor, but blood as they are actually evil creatures of the night. This causes Lincoln to become an Abolitionist and the true motives for the Civil War are born."
The brave sons and daughters of the Confederacy will not sit idly by as the South's good name is dragged through the mud. Any historian worth a damn knows that cases of vampirism in the Antebellum South were minimal, and confined to Papists in Louisiana. I intend to write a letter to all parties involved with this drivel right after I finish cooking meth, watching Nascar, and sleeping with my cousin. (HitFix)

Mom?
Andrew Niccol is scooping up all the pretty people for his now untitled sci-fi film. Olivia Wilde is the latest hot, young thing to join the cast that already consists of Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, and Vincent Kartheiser. Wilde will play Timberlake's hot mom, in the film about a society where the aging gene is turned off at age twenty-five. Hence, old and gross people can appear twenty-five forever.
Originally called I'm.mortal, the film is now currently untitled. That's good news for sh*tty trip-hop bands in Florida who may be in need of a name. (EW)

Sony Pictures will offer Easy A star Emma Stone the role of Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-man Reboot, Deadline is reporting. I imagine the actress will say yes, unless she hates the feel and smell of money. If this news is true, thank God they've knocked out one more casting decision.
Next one up is the role of Gwen Stacy, Spidey's first love. The actresses currently in contention are Dianna Agron, Mia Wasikowska, Georgina Haig, and Dominique McElligott. My personal chose would be Agron, as her name is the easiest to spell and I'm sure I'll be writing about Spider-man upwards of fifty thousand times over the next few years. Alright, she's also got a smile that could melt cold hearts. I hope you're happy. Now I'm emoting.

When I read the description of Sound of Noise in the Fantastic Fest brochure, I thought there&rsquo;s no way it could be as awesome as it sounds. It&rsquo;s about musical terrorists, but if it were really that awesome, some Hollywood people would have done it already, right? Well, I discovered at a sold out Fantastic Fest screening that Sound of Noise is one of those rare indie foreign films that is as awesome as it sounds.

True Grit isn't messing around with its new poster. The tag "Punishment Comes One Way or Another" lets you know that sh*t is gonna get real, and real fast. The broadsheet style seems appropriate for the film, and Josh Brolin's name bleeding out is the perfect Coen Bros. touch. Sure, I'll go ahead and check this one out come Christmas. It might be nothing short of awesome.

Gosling bites his thumb at Clooney's on-set dress code.
George Clooney is stepping behind the camera again for Farragut North and he wants Ryan Gosling to be his leading man. Based on Howard Dean's 2004 campaign, Farragut North details the shady practices and backstabbings that take place in order for a candidate to get a nom. No stranger to nom-nom-noms, Venom-hopeful Philip Seymour Hoffman is on board as the boss of Gosling's political mastermind character.
Leonardo DiCaprio was once connected to the role, and then Chris Pine was expected to step in after bringing down the house in the play version. But in the end, it looks like it's Gosling's for the taking. No fair. He gets to be in a great movie AND Rachel McAdams. (Deadline)

Vulture put together this cool montage of all the Liz Lemon flashback moments from "30 Rock." It's not until you see them all lined up that you realize how big of a loser she was during childhood. And why it's really dumbfounding that she's not a lesbian.

The cyborg super-cop Robocop defends citizens of Old Detroit with three times as much action when the Robocop Trilogy arrives as a Blu-ray collector&rsquo;s set October 5. Just in time for the holiday season, this three disc set from MGM Home Entertainment contains the original Robocop on Blu-ray, as well as Robocop 2 and Robocop 3 on Blu-ray for the first time.

Packed full of memorable moments and Robocop quotes, the Robocop Trilogy is a fan must-have. Viewers can experience their favorite &ldquo;human&rdquo; robot in all three classic films, now on Blu-ray. I'd buy that for a dollar!
But you can get it for free. I have two copies of the Robocop Trilogy on Blu-Ray to give away. For your chance to win one simply follow Screen Junkies on Twitter and tweet the answer to this question:
What is the name of the machine Dick Jones creates that Robocop goes up against at the end of the first film?
The first two people to tweet the correct answer win. Your move, creep.

Ciaran Hinds (aka Vinnie Jones Lite) and smooooking hot Italian actress Violante Placido have both been approached to take roles in Ghost Rider 2 and replied, "Yeah, sure. Why the heck not?" Hinds is onboard to play the Devil, and Placido will play the mother of a boy whose body the Devil wants to take over.
Yikes. That's what this movie's about? At least Placido will be hanging around to help distract from the plot and dialogue. And Nicolas Cage's hairline. (Coming Soon)

Yaaaaaay, more Spider-man reboot love interest casting news. Dianna Agron, who plays teenage mother and cheerleader Quinn in "Glee," and Georgina Haig, star of Toronto Film Festival hit Wasted on the Young, are being considered to get Peter Parker's spidey sense and loins tingling. We previously reported that Emma Stone and Mia Wasikowska are also in the race. The actresses are vying for the roles of Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's first love, and Mary Jane Watson, the redhead who comes along later. The contenders could of course change at any moment, as all of them might be unavailable or smell funny.
Deadline is also reporting that there are early unconfirmed talks that Sony and director Marc Webb are looking at Philip Seymour Hoffman to play the film's villain, Venom. Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Have they seen the man lately? Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing actor, but he isn't exactly lithe. I don't remember side stitches as one of Venom's super powers.

According to Production Weekly, Emily Blunt has signed up for Rian Johnson's sci-fi movie Looper. It's expected that she'll play the female lead, a MILF who finds Joseph Gordon-Levitt hiding out in her barn.
If Van Damme movies have taught me anything, Gordon-Levitt will stay with her and her son for a while, help with farm chores, teach the kid to play catch, get intimate with Emily, and then have to confront his past when his enemies show up on the doorstep. Or worse, he'll be banned into exile when the family Netflixes G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. Seriously, why was he in that?

Remember how the band Limp Bizkit made you want to stick an icepick in your ears and never listen to music again? Well now Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst wants to try and ruin your love of cinema by directing his latest film, Pawn Shop Chronicles.
Written by Adam Minarovich, the script is said to be in the vein of Pulp Fiction with 24 Frames describing it as such: &ldquo;in a nutshell, a missing wedding ring leads to a wild-goose chase involving meth addicts, skinheads and an Elvis impersonator.&rdquo;
Based the that wacky description, it sounds like a mix between Hooneymoon in Vegas, "Breaking Bad," and a steaming pile of dog nookie. (Collider)

Director Roland Emmerich wants Will Smith to be president. Luckily, he&rsquo;s a kraut, so he can&rsquo;t vote in our bad-ass American elections. However, there&rsquo;s nothing stopping him from making Will Smith president in the magical world of make believe.

MTV is now reporting that Emmerich was so inspired by the election of Barack Obama that he will cast Will Smith as the president in the planned sequels to his 1996 blockbuster, Independence Day….cause he&rsquo;s black, I guess. This brings up an interesting question. If McCain had won, would Randy Quaid&rsquo;s character, a deranged fighter pilot who was once held prisoner by aliens, be the president instead? If so, I&rsquo;d like to go back and changed my vote. Sorry, Cynthia McKinney. (Cinema Blend)